20th anniversary of Jim Valvano's moving speech

Dick Vitale gave Jimmy Valvano a warm, Italian embrace. He then put his arm around Valvano and helped his good friend up the steps and to the podium on the stage at Madison Square Garden.

"I thought Jimmy would simply accept the trophy, say thank you, and I would help get him back to his seat," Vitale said this week about that night in 1993 at the first ESPY awards.

Instead, Vitale stood there on the stage for nearly 12 minutes, three feet away from a dying man who somehow gathered the strength and grace to deliver one of the most riveting, touching, and best-remembered speeches in sports history.

"If I would have known he was going to give that speech, I would have taken a seat," Vitale said.

But what better place to be than standing almost within arms reach of someone giving a speech that is replayed, somewhere, nearly every day; to be that close to history in the making.

"I stood there in total awe of every word coming out of his mouth," said Vitale, a Lakewood Ranch resident and ESPN broadcaster. "I don't know what got into him but he got up there and gave this electrifying speech that captured our nation."

Today marks the 20th anniversary of the speech that touched the hearts, the minds, the souls of people across the nation.

There to accept the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award, Valvano summoned the courage to ignore not only the pain wracking his body, but also the time limit on speeches to deliver a timeless oration packed with words to live by.

"I couldn't believe what I was hearing," Vitale said. "I was as stunned as anyone that night. It was a speech that touched so many lives. It didn't matter if you were rich or poor, black or white. It hit the heart of everyone."

Valvano announced the start of the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research during the speech and told the audience that the motto of the endowment would be "Don't give up. Don't ever give up."

Talking openly about the cancer that was destroying his body, yet also infusing the talk with self-deprecating humor, Valvano touched his audience.

And few can forget his closing lines: "Cancer can take away all my physical abilities. It cannot touch my mind, it cannot touch my heart and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever."

So does the speech, particularly with Vitale.

Vitale was one of a handful of close friends who knew just how ill and how much pain Valvano was in leading up to the inaugural ESPYs.

After going through a rehearsal the night before, and seeing how elaborate the presentation to Valvano was going to be, Vitale telephoned his broadcasting buddy.

Valvano's wife, Pam, answered the telephone and said that Jimmy V was not going to make the trip from North Carolina to New York.

Vitale finally spoke with Valvano, trying to encourage him to attend.

"I remember the phone conversation distinctly," Vitale said. "He started crying, and talking about his family."

And the impending marriage of the oldest of his three daughters.

"I started crying," Vitale said. "He said, 'You think I care about a presentation or a trophy? I am not going to be able to walk my daughter down the aisle. I am not going to see my little girl graduate.'"

Vitale persisted. So did Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski, who flew with Valvano to New York.

Valvano made it to the show.

"He was sicker than a dog," Vitale said. "He got there in a wheelchair. He was throwing up."

Yet when the lights came on, and Valvano was called to the stage, he summoned a strength that enabled him to speak without notes. The speech elicited a standing ovation and became an instant ESPN Classic.

The next day Vitale's voice mail was filled with messages from friends and coaches who had seen the ESPYs on television, many of them unaware how ill Valvano was.

Vitale tried to call and relay the messages. Valvano's wife said he was weak and was not accepting calls, except for the one he got from President Clinton.

Vitale persisted and spoke with Valvano.

"It was the last time I ever spoke to him," said Vitale, his voice breaking at the remembrance. "Here was a guy who was up in front of millions less than 12 hours earlier, speaking loud and clear. Now I could hardly hear his whisper. He said, 'Dick, I have no chance. It's over.'"

Less than eight weeks later, Valvano died.

Yet the foundation that got its start that night has lived on, raising more than $120 million.

And Vitale has raised $8.6 million for the V Foundation since he started his Dick Vitale Gala in 2006. Last year's Sarasota event raised a record $2.1 million for pediatric cancer research.

"I just feel it in my heart," Vitale said about continuing what Valvano started. "To my last breath I will plead for dollars. When I open the gala every year, the first thing I tell the crowd, I say, 'Tonight we are going to do what Jimmy always believed. We are going to laugh here tonight. We are going to cry. And you will be moved to thought.'